Wrath of the Righteous

A whole new world

28

JUN/17

As Yaniel recovered from her long imprisonment, the ash giant introduced himself. However, the name Ashley somehow stuck instead of whatever he said. Ashley told the group that the one who charmed him was a snake lady. Tane was furious about the theft of the Quicken rod. Since Minagho was gone, he cast True Seeing and lead the party to go hunt down the cambion (A variant of demon-mortal hybrid) alchemist. When the party reentered the main entrance, the Deskari golem attacked. It was unable to accomplish much, and was dispatched by Wase with assistance from Ashley and the party. Next, the party found a large room with disgusting furnishings. Ashley said that it was where he and his friends stayed. When questioned further, Ashley confirmed that two more charmed giants were present. The party agreed to try and free them.

The party then went to the main chamber of the temple. The two other giants were there, working at a device. It was a massive grinder that looked almost alive as its mechanical limbs twirled. A 60ft rift to the Abyss took up an entire wall. Seeing through it was impossible. Evil whispers crawled through the air. The giants attacked. With his True Seeing, Tane spotted the alchemist using an invisibility spell to hide. Bendak summoned a T. rex to attack the alchemist based on Tane’s directions. It sniffed out its target, but the alchemist flew out of the way in time and its jaws still snapped shut on empty air. Wase used a spell to free the giants from their enchantment. Gith blasted the alchemist with a fireball, forcing the dinosaur to jump out of the way. The alchemist then retaliated with an unsuccessful attack on Tane’s mind followed by a bomb that released a cloud of poisonous gas. The dinosaurs were hurt, but the rest of the party was fine. Bendak was almost affected, but his mask warded off the fumes. Tane then blasted through the alchemist’s spell resistance and magically destroyed his mind. The alchemist then floated off near the ceiling and just babbled for a while.

Meanwhile, Ashley and Wase were trying to convince the two other giants not to fight. The evil whispers caused one to just cower in the corner, while the other giant decided to attack anyway. It tried and failed to shove Wase into the grinder as Ashley failed to stop him. Bendak sent the T.rex to try and subdue him. The giant and the T. rex began a back and forth wrestling match, neither gaining the advantage.

At that point, the “snake lady” Ashley had mentioned appeared behind the party’s lines. She was a lamia matriarch. Lamias are half-women, half-monster creatures who are the result of an ancient curse.

She had used an invisibility spell to get close, and then assaulted the Queen. The party wheeled to attack her and Bendak surrounded her with ankylosaurs, so she flew out of reach and cast a lightning bolt down at them. Tane then dispelled her flight spell, so she floated back to the ground. Wase then tore into her and left her near death. A ankylosaurus club then finished the job before any questions of mercy could be raised.

Now that he had his vengance, Ashley decided it was time for his partnership with the heroes to end. Ashley struck down Yaniel with his hook and ran out the door of the temple. Queen Galfrey immediately began healing her old friend as the party chased after Ashley. Wase and Hook quickly outran him with their mythic powers and natural speed, dealing a bit of damage. Bendak then launched him into the air with a geyser and Gith tore him apart with a volley of arrows. The tyrannosaur and the giant continued to wrestle until the ankylosaurs wandered over and subdued the giant with their clubs.

After the battle, the giants were restrained and Gith disabled the grinder. In the process, he got a psychic reading of the giants throwing innocent prisoners into the device for fun. Despite that they had done this of their own free will, the party decided to show them mercy anyway. Somewhere, Poonisher was gravely disappointed. The party looted and healed Yaniel after her near death at the hands of Ashley. Gith telekinetically retrieved a ring of Force Shield from the inner workings of the grinder. It had been serving as a sort of battery. Now it could serve as a magical shield, if the party chose to use it that way.

Tane then turned his anger on the drooling alchemist. Tane cursed his mind even further, placed an impossible to remove tracking ring on his finger that burned with a harmless fire, covered him in tattoos that said “Coward” and “Thief” in a variety of demonic languages, and cast a permanent Magic Mouth spell on him that constantly played the message “I am a fool and a coward. I had no business going over there.” whenever he was near small groups of anyone or anything that could listen. Tane then sent his victim away. Whatever it was he had done to earn the sorcerer’s ire, he surely wouldn’t do again.

After Tane’s oddly targeted yet severe vengance, the time came to do what the party had come for. The party telepathically asked Arueshalae how to use the Abyss portal. She replied that you just walk through, but the good at heart would find the experience painful. One by one, the party began to go through. Wase was first, and vanished beyond the shimmering crimson wall. Next was Gith. His pain as he crossed proved he was still a good person, despite his necromancy. Then Tane crossed. Bendak was last, as he stopped to request that the Queen take care of his pterodactyl while he was in the Abyss. She agreed. Swoop was reluctant to leave, but Bendak felt that the Abyss was too dangerous for it. Having the familiar on the Material side of the portal would also allow for the party to see outside when need be by scrying. Tane took his own Lyrakien familiar with him. Fee was very proud of his trust in her.

As party members arrived on the other side, they were greeted by chaos and fury. A powerful and porcine greed demon called a nalfeshnee was lying in wait on the other side and attacked Wase as soon as he came through.

The Abyss itself was hostile to the good souls that had entered it. The party found various tasks seemed more difficult, while magic that drew on specifically Good powers was weakened while Evil magic was enhanced. The nalfeshnee’s tough hide resisted dinosaur teeth and Gith’s arrows while its spell resistance shrugged off Tane’s spells. Wase was nearly slain at the demon’s hands. However, as powerful as the demon was, it was still alone. Eventually, its resistances were not enough, and Wase’s holy blade met the demon’s heart.

The party could now close the portal. The ritual took a minute. The portal shrieked and fought the end, sending forth many blasts of lightning. Bendak was almost deafened by the final thunder as the portal closed, but resisted because the party’s Mythic powers had grown just as the portal died.